When we developed the timeline tool, our friends thought of many ways to creatively use the timeline. Some of them thought the timeline could become a great public service, a resource for history education and for debate over current issues. Others wanted to create biographical timelines for celebrities and their scandalous relationships.

The ability of these timelines to entertain and educate convinced us that other people would enjoy our timeline as much we do. And that's how xtimeline came to have a home of its own.

History and Development

Xtimeline is a website that was created by the founders of Famento Inc. This site was created so that anyone with access to the internet may create a timeline of information. Xtimeline is a website that has a direct link from the Famento Blog that was originally created by two founders. The two founders of famento.com are Lauren Kwan and Kevin Chen. These two co-founders wanted to create a place where information could be recorded and not deleted, allowing other people to read and document information about family or other shared information.

Lauren Kwan, co-founder, developed the idea of Famento after her grandmother died. She said, “After my grandmother passed away, I realized my family didn't have a permanent way to preserve her stories and legacy. For that matter, I didn't have a very good way of sharing more detailed stories about what was happening in my life with friends and family who are spread around the world. That's why I wanted to create Famento. I wanted a place where each of us can record our own life stories and stay connected with the people we care about, no matter how far we live from each other, or how many generations apart we are.”

Kevin Chen, co-founder, said “In Taiwan and other parts of Asia, there is a holiday similar to Memorial Day, where families honor their ancestors. A few years ago, I went with my family to visit the tomb of my grandfather on this holiday. I heard a lot of stories about my family that I wanted to record. However, I found trying to be the family historian very difficult. I think in most families, stories and photos are scattered between numerous family members. Information is constantly being lost as older generations pass away and younger generations drift apart. I wanted to build Famento to be that permanent record. I believe future generations will go online to sites like Famento to learn about their family history.”

What is the Purpose?

Xtimeline is the 2.0 approach when creating timelines. The online resource is helpful to people looking to create a timeline. This tool allows people to develop interactive timelines, enhanced with images and links. The timelines are interactive due to the fact that others may comment and view a person’s timeline as well. However, there is an option to make the timeline private. This resource is a wonderful tool for teachers and students. Both may access the timeline created either by the teacher or student for teaching tools or project enhancers. Continuing with project enhancers, students may use the timelines they find on the website to put in research projects. In addition, Xtimeline has a bulk upload option. This feature makes uploading great amounts of information easier and faster. With its own URL, users are able to embed their timelines into websites, blogs and offline documents with no trouble. The feature also allows other people viewing the timeline to navigate quickly to the appropriate timeline.

How does XTIMELINE work?

To start off you’ll need to go to the Xtimeline website which is www.xtimeline.com. You have to click the 'sign up' in the top right hand corner of the page. Type in your email, retype your email, type in your account name, make up a password, re-enter that password, mark the box to confirm the policy, and then click submit. Now you have an Xtimeline account.

You can search timelines by either typing the name of a timeline into the ‘search for a timeline’ spot or you can search through the explore or list tab. You have view timelines/lists by most viewed, most linked, or most recent.

Once you are signed in and at the home page, click the yellow 'Create a timeline' button in the top right hand corner of the page. You must put information in these required fields: title, custom URL, language, category, and description. You also have the option of adding a photo to go along with your timeline. Another option available to you is to change the privacy settings of your timeline. Clicking the "change settings" link next to the privacy settings heading, will open an menu of privacy settings. These settings will allow you to choose how public or private you want your timeline to be. Once you are done with that process, hit 'create' to make your timeline. To add events, click the 'add events' button. You need to put in a title, date, and description of the events. Click the 'save and add next' button to keep on adding more, and once you are done just click 'save'. Now you have your own timeline!

If you want to make a list of timelines, click on the ‘list’ tab in the top left hand corner of your screen. Click ‘create a list’ and type the name of what you want your list to be then hit save. If you want to change the name of the title or add why you created the time, all you have to do is click on the title and type in the new name for the list. To add a timeline, click on ‘add a timeline’ and select ‘choose from your existing favorites’. Highlight the timelines you want added to the list and hit ‘select timeline’ then ‘save’. If your timelines don’t show up when you select from your existing favorites, select the ‘Paste the timeline URL’. Open up another tab that goes to your timeline that you want posted, select and copy the URL into the line and click ‘save’.

If you want to leave feedback to the website creators, all you have to do is go to the home page, and click the blue "contact" link found on the bottom left of the home page. Clicking this link will take to you a new page. The site's email address (info@xtimeline.com) can be found under the "Feedback," "Problems," and "Advertisers" headings. This page also has a place that allows you donate to the site. Just click the yellow "donate" button below the "Please donate to xtimeline" heading."

Other Related Applications

Xtimeline is used as a website to post information in timeline form. The users of famento.com wanted another way to document history in a more organized form, hence Xtimeline was created by the same creators of famento.com. Other sites that are related to Xtimeline and Famento and Goldenvoices.

Though Xtimeline is a very dry source to create a timeline, there are other applications that allow for other timelines to be created. These websites include Capzles, Dipity, and Timetoast. All of these sites also allow for users to create timelines in a timely and accessible fashion.

Unique Uses for XTIMELINE

Xtimeline.com is a unique website in that it is extremely versatile. Like all Web 2.0 programs, it can easily be personalized for an individual's use. One person may use this tool for a purely educational value, such as a professor creating a timeline for his or her “History of Art” course that puts the major works of art the class is studying on a timeline. An English professor may put a timeline of the series of events in a book filled with flashbacks to aid the students understanding of the order things in the book occurred. Another person may use it for entertainment value, such as following the life of Angelina Jolie. A person obsessed with Super Mario may make a timeline of his videogames, roles, and looks throughout history. Another person may use it for a personal use, such as having his or her nephew to plan the summer out a timeline so. The nephew and uncle or aunt could find this to be very putting together a timeline of his or her grandfather’s family for his birthday. Another person may use a timeline to express a political view, such as the timeline of a certain president in a scandal. In a classroom, it can be used by students and teachers alike to enhance the learning environment in a new and captivating manner. Some classes even have students work on a small portion of a timeline and later make a compilation of all of them.

Even within the world of digital timelines, Xtimeline is unique. It allows for information to be posted in great detail and add photo entries. It also has some amazing features that allow for more unique ways, including working within groups. This allows certain people to edit the timeline, making this a useful tool for group projects. It also can be open to the public, allowing anyone to change the timeline and add useful information to the timeline. You can print, translate, and view your timeline in many ways. You can even imbed it in popular social networking sites such as facebook.com and myspace.com. With all these ways to use it, it is clear that Xtimeline is multifunctional and an extremely useful tool.

Educational Uses

This website can be used in any classroom for multiple educational purposes. Some of the benefits for educational uses are below. • Research• Work together in groups• Learn how to edit • Useful for all greats and subjects• Give feedback• Sharing and publishing information• Keep information organized

Post-Secondary Lesson Plans

How it's used in Business and Education

Using Xtimeline can be a great tool in a business or a classroom. Employers can update information and view what has been accomplished. Xtimeline could also be used in a business setting to report the minutes of a meeting. This would be beneficial to those in the company who did not attend, but need to know what happened. This could also be updated by a linked RSS feed, while the meeting is still occurring! Teachers can create lesson plans and discuss them with co-workers to better their lesson.

XTIMELINE Worldwide

As a user of Xtimeline, you can view the website anytime, anywhere.

Testimonials

"I am in law enforcement and we use Timeline Maker on big cases which involve several defendants. Also we use it on big cases with lots of dates or data to help explain the case to the C/A office. We sampled several timeline software programs and Timeline Maker was hands down the best program available. It's ease of use for entering data is simple and saves hours from how we use to create timelines. The charts are great and easy to understand. The final plus is the cost of the program makes it very affordable for any law enforcement agancy to purchase and use." Kon K.Detective, Billings Police Dept.

"When I was tasked to create a timeline for our organization's centennial celebration, I scoured the Internet, looking for the easiest and best-looking timeline software (at first, I was only to do the research and someone else was going to create it). Timeline Maker had the best product for what I wanted to do: insert/import lots of text and have it create the timeline for me. Other products would have had me created each box/object myself - no way!

Because of my job as a technology trainer, I'm constantly trying out new programs for our teachers and my co-workers. This program has an easy learning curve that could be easily taught to even novice users."Cynthia L.Training Manager, Learning Technologies Department of the Imperial County Office of Education, El Centro, CA